Dark matter caused the demise of the dinosaurs?

Published: 13 December 2016 (GMT+10)

Dark matter has been invoked to solve many vexing problems in astrophysics and cosmology.1 Now it seems it has been invoked to solve the evolutionists’ problem of extinction of the dinosaurs.2

American theoretical physicist and cosmologist Dr Lisa Randall has developed a breakthrough five dimensional warped geometry theory. About two years ago she proposed a new hypothesis on dark matter which suggests the mysterious invisible substance that allegedly dominates the universe played a role in killing the dinosaurs.3 She even has written a book on it—Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs. In the book her new theory is summarised as follows.

[A]bout 66 million years ago, gravitational perturbations caused by a thin pancake-shaped disc of dark matter in the Milky Way galaxy dislodged icy comets in the Oort cloud at the very edge of the known solar system, resulting in the fiery meteoroid that eventually crash-landed in the Yucatan, leading to the mass extinction of more than 75 per cent of life on the planet in the process.3

Her radical new theory even posits mass extinctions every 35 million years or so.

Dinosaurs sell books and she has written a book that needs to be sold.

I’d call it a fairytale, except that might be insulting to fairies. To believe that it could even be true takes a lot of faith, which apparently describes Randall. She is reported to be unfazed by the panoply of uncertainties that her new theory incorporates.4

Now let me spell this out. You have the dinosaurs wiped out by an alleged comet dislodged from an alleged Oort cloud, by an alleged perturbation in the gravitational fields near our solar system allegedly 66 million years ago by the action of an alleged disc of putative dark matter.

It is only by faith that someone would believe such a tale. There are almost no facts involved in the story. The only one I know is that the dinosaurs once lived on Earth and now do not.

Here you have a Harvard theoretical physicist playing to the media. Dinosaurs sell books and she has written a book that needs to be sold. What is most important is the message—getting the message out, do not get lost in the details. The successful evolutionists work with the media to sell their story. It does not matter about the details—the background story that evolution happened on Earth, and in the solar system and elsewhere is the main message.

Now dark matter—the hypothesised invisible matter that allegedly comprises 80% or more of the matter content of the Galaxy, yet never observed—has been invoked to solve another vexing problem: what wiped out the dinosaurs? Oh, that answers the question doesn’t it? No, not the majority of dinosaurs that were already extinct before the supposed impact, according to evolutionary ‘dating’ methods.5 That answers the big question in the cosmos: What is dark matter? Doesn’t it?

Well no! It does not! Nor does it tell us what happened to the dinosaurs. Noah’s Flood as the main cause of their demise is a far more reasonable explanation. The evidence is plain to see. No dark matter is needed.

Geggel, L., Dinosaur decline started long before asteroid impact, livescience.com, 19 April 2016. Return to text.

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Readers’ comments

Geoff C. W.,Australia, 17 December 2016

Did dark matter (DM) also preserve the dinosaurs' soft tissue, blood cells and DNA? And did it implant C14 in their bones in such a way that it would not decay over millions of years? I guess if it did that, it could also have retained images of dinosaurs, which could then be implanted in people's minds millions of years later, allowing those people to draw or carve images of dinosaurs around the world, before any skeletons had been dug up.

Pretty fancy stuff, that DM.

Jim M.,Japan, 15 December 2016

Interesting article! I was just curious though as to why you call this lady's new idea a "theory".

If she herself says it is a speculative idea, then how can it qualify as a true scientific theory?

Evolutionists often criticise people for saying "But it's only a theory." In this case, it does seem that it is only a theory - and NOT a theory in the scientific sense of the word.

It seems evolutionists use the word theory to bolster their speculative ideas and make them more scientific and official sounding.

But in reporting on these so called "theories", wouldn't it be better to speak of them as a hypothesis as opposed to a theory?

Just wondering.

Thanks.

John Hartnett responds

You make a good point. I stand corrected.

Gary T.,United States, 15 December 2016

I must apologize. I couldn't help myself. I started laughing one-third to halfway through that quoted summary of her theory.

Dark matter? Oort Cloud? Really?! LOL!

Philippus S.,Australia, 14 December 2016

"American theoretical physicist and cosmologist Dr Lisa Randall is another scientist grasping at dark matter for answers." Help me out here what is "theoretical physicist and cosmologist " Since when and how can we ever prove them wrong or even correct, if not possible how come the Doctor title? This goes of every Scientist on earth. They have "muddied" the water so badly we don't believe them period. Can anybody tell me we how mankind is helped with space travel, say to Mars and the moon, while parts of our oceans remain undiscovered?

Christian R.,United States, 13 December 2016

You can tell evolutionists are desperate for a non-biblical cause for the dinosaurs' demise. Now we're somehow supposed to believe dark matter, which we've never observed and much less understand, made over 65% of life die out at the end of the Cretaceous Period (according to evolutionists). Yep, totally believable. If only they would give the Bible's account of a global Flood and a changing climate after the Flood, the extinction of the dinosaurs and so many other scientific mysteries would be solved!

Dan M.,United States, 13 December 2016

I do not have a degree in science but I do have some grey matter sitting on my shoulders, (it has been proven to exist and God gave it to me to use).

Evolutionists are always falsely accusing us creationists of appealing to the God of the gaps when we don't have an explanation for a particular phenomenon. Then evolutionists in turn use said methodology to explain the problematic assumptions in their theories using dark matter which has never been observed. This theory, (and I say that with reservation) sounds like more dark matter of the gaps to me? "Speculative", doesn't quite describe my first reaction to her hypothesis, (I agree Dr. H there must be some fairies in there somewhere)?

Please explain to me how a single meteor or even many could bury millions of dinosaurs as well as all other living things under billions of tons of earth miles deep? I've been to the grand canyon and have observed the flat pancake like layers perfectly uniform without a single ecosystem in between. Those ecosystems are found in pockets throughout the earth in the form of coal and were obviously uprooted and carried to their present locations by water. Those layers were obviously laid down successively in a short period of time and I don't need a Phd. to see that! Does Dr. Randall want me to believe there were multiple floods that formed those layers over a long period?

Forgive me for being so blunt but this hypothesis is a joke among many other evolutionist just so stories, (And Dawkins calls me deluded)! Evolutionists are demeaning real professional science with their just so ridiculous stories but thank The Lord there are some voices of reason out there raised up by him!

God Bless.

Bad science irritates me if you couldn't tell!

Chuck R.,United States, 13 December 2016

Romans 1:22 - Professing to be wise, they became fools.

Eddie C.,United States, 13 December 2016

I was having a discussion with someone about science and faith a few months ago. They invoked dark matter to answer the problem with gravity not being strong enough to hold the universe together. I told him that that dark matter was theoretical and that there is no real proof of its existence. This person spent the rest of the conversation insisting it had been proven to exist. I knew at that point there was no reason to continue to the conversation.

Faith in science is taught to be infallible in our schools systems and that presents a problem. There are so many who believe that "settled science" is the truth and that it cannot be questioned. But even beyond what is considered settled, they have so much faith in the minds of scientist that the general public will believe any science article they read is fact. I would be willing to bet that if you put two opposing theories in a magazine, but you did not tell the general public they were opposing theories, most people would believe both of them. It would also appeal to their intellectual side and they would feel superior in their thinking simply for believing what a science article states.

Then you could take an article from someone that has spent years studying a subject. Like those here at CMI or at other creation research institutions and those same people would dismiss their articles without even reading them.

My point is, no matter how much creation research is done. The battle we are in is a spiritual one. Creation research is a great tool for those willing to hear, but we need to pray for God to open hearts and minds as only he can do.

John Hartnett responds

I completely agree with you. It is a spiritual warfare we fight for the minds and souls of men and women. This is why we must pray and use all the weapons at our disposal.

A. H.,United Kingdom, 13 December 2016

It is significant that the level of derision directed at 'deep time deniers' is much more appropriately applied to the deriders.

What we actually know is that dinosaurs are no longer being fossilized as they were in the past. Also if they are still around they are confined to places which are not readily accessible and where they can most easily hide.

The rest of the story reported is not just speculative but fact free. It is clearly allowable for a 'scientist' to invoke a indeterminate number of hypothetical entities provided they are not supernatural. There is no scientific reason for this arbitrary ideological choice. There is however a very definite moral reason which is clearly stated in Romans chapter 1.

David B.,Australia, 13 December 2016

It's night time now. Is that caused by the descent of dark matter? What a tall tale she spins; fairy tales are more believable. Well put John.

jeremy S.,United Kingdom, 13 December 2016

Thanks, John. It's amazing how far people's 'faith' can be stretched by such nonsense. "Well, science says so, so it must be true."

I've always been leery of the 'dark matter' theory, the existence of other solar systems and even the so-called 'light years' speculation.

The big question in all this web of astronomical fakery, is 'where's the Spider?'

I think you and I know the answer.

God bless you.

robert R.,Australia, 13 December 2016

A billion years ago, a bucket full of dark matter floated through our region of the universe, and caused a rocky pool of sludge to form dna, proteins and other things necessary to create cells. And each cell had the ability to become more and more detailed with new information. Dark Matter sound like a great faith. No doubt a couple of invisible tables of dark matter appeared under Jesus' feet as he stepped out of the boat, making him capable of walking on water. If only the dark matter would give me the winning lotto numbers too.

murk P.,Canada, 13 December 2016

Any one with a smattering of grade 6 science knows that dark matter only takes the shape of a double cheeseburger. It is laughable to postulate that double cheeseburger shaped dark matter can affect gravity perturbations since this obviously requires a flat pancake shape.